Chapter 37: Flicker of Battle

"I can't believe you're forbidding me from going to the library!" Helga gasped in anger.

I sighed, but didn't bother to silence her. We were in the middle of the wilderness, and if there was anyone close enough to hear us, we had bigger problems. "Really," I said instead. "That's your big reaction to the school being infiltrated by a necromancer of unknown power?"

"It's not like I can do anything about that part," she said, but I was happy to note a blush on her face as she realized her rather selfish perspective. "And are you sure my absence wouldn't be more attention grabbing anyway," she added, trying to make it sound like a logical argument, but I could hear the desperation in her tone.

"Come on, booksie," Aviada cut in, smirking, her arms crossed on her chest. "It wouldn't kill you to stay away from your real lovers for a few nights."

"But I just gained a new skill for spell architecture," Helga murmured, reminding me more of a child than a self-possessed ambitious woman ready to challenge every adversary for her own ambitions. "It's an unfair sacrifice."

"And I have to loan my precious sword again and again," Aviada cut in with an annoying smirk. "We all make sacrifices."

As much as I liked to see casual banter between them, it also cost us a lot of time. Otherwise, I wouldn't have limited myself to two quickies to activate the mana regeneration perk before cutting into the wilderness. I took a step back, and two slaps exploded on their bottoms, one for each. "Come on, girls, pay attention," I said. "We don't have a lot of time to waste, we need to improve your levels as much as possible in the next few days."

I had no doubt that anyone else would have received a deriding scoff for daring to mention the potential to gain even a level in a few days, not to mention multiple levels, but since yesterday's expedition had resulted in three levels, I had a lot of leeway to mention such a thing. I received two shy nods before the girls donned their game faces and turned their attention outward. We were currently in the Soundless Canyon, a place famous for its deadliness even for high-powered parties, so we all needed to be on high alert.

I chose the canyon for two reasons. First, danger meant stronger creatures, which in turn meant quicker leveling. Second, and the more important part was that the canyon was in the opposite direction from our encounter, making it unlikely for us to be caught by the necromancer scouts that were doubtlessly sent. I would be lying if I hadn't been tempted to hunt those. Their intrusion to the library felt really personal. After all, for better or for worse, that place had been the closest thing to a home for me, not to mention my damnable curse was broken there.

That place was special, and it annoyed me to see it soiled by undead trash.

Still, I was self-aware enough to realize antagonizing a faction of unknown strength and capabilities required more than a sense of annoyance. Yesterday's encounter and my impulsive decision to slay the shade had been rather unforgivable. It was for the best if they had never learned of my identity.

"Helga, this is for you," I said just after I incapacitated another Earth Serpent with a swing of my sword. Those were a dangerous species of creature famous for their ambushes, bursting through the ground with little warning, their jaws strong enough to threaten even the strongest warrior. Luckily, my earth magic allowed me to detect the vibration they created, allowing me to reverse their ambushes easily, making them easy targets. The girls, who long since lost their shock at my prowess of destroying class twelve creatures with a swing, were satisfied with the easy experience.

"Another detection spell?" Helga said even as she sank her dagger into the helpless serpent's brain stem, having long gotten used to delivering finishing hits.

I just nodded as I focused on my palm, creating another ball of ephemeral energy, holding it still for several seconds for Helga to examine. When she nodded I triggered a nova, its presence washing over my body like a warm blanket.

[-24 Mana]

[+1 Biomancy]

"It's better than the last time," she said with a cute frown as she stayed focused on my palm. "At least this time you managed to keep your connection with the life energy for twenty feet before you lost control."

"It's progress. If those dead bastards can throw their rotten energy left and right, I should be able to do the same with the reverse," I said with a shrug even as I conjured another ball, this time trying to put more power in it, but it destabilized and exploded as a ball, washing over us calmly, wasting a lot of mana. Manipulating pure life energy from a distance was much harder than I had been expecting. On a positive note, I felt my exhaustion disappear, and from the rejuvenated expression on their faces, the girls experienced the same.

[-60 Mana]

"Do you really think that you can copy their approach? Necrotic energy is much more malleable than life energy," Helga said with a concentrated expression, the one she had whenever she had a complicated problem.

"Of course. I already had a preliminary success, and it has been just a day since I have started working on it," I said with a scoff. "I can't believe no one else had tried this."

Helga slapped my shoulder. "Not everyone has virtually endless mana to throw around." She stopped for a moment. "Or they have good enough stats to take generic biomancy instead of healing. You're the only one I know that has a chance to use such a wasteful spell."

I shrugged. "If it works," I said with a smirk.

Aviada cut in. "God damn it, Gaius, you're making me feel like an idiot. Is there anything you can't do well?"

"I'm not that good at throwing," I answered modestly. That was one combat area I was planning to neglect.

"What are you talking about," Aviada answered. "I have seen you hitting a moving target a hundred feet away with a throwing knife."

"Yeah, but it hit its arm," I explained. "I was aiming for the eye." Aviada snorted as she leaned down, busy digging out the fangs of the earth serpent. They weren't venomous, but they were still valuable, and more importantly, they were easy to carry. After that, we moved on, leaving the carcass behind, even through my heart ached for wasting a small fortune. Unfortunately, we weren't in a position to hide those valuables.

The next three hours passed nicely. We came across a large nest of Kappa in addition to the serpents, pushing the girls close to a level up. Meanwhile, I continued to work on my detection spell, wasting a lot of mana but improving the spell quite a bit. The significant improvement of my biomancy was a welcome bonus as well.

[-546 Mana]

[+12 Biomancy]

"I think I got it," I said with a smirk as I converted a nice chunk of mana to life energy and converting it into a stable ball before releasing it, feeling it spread around for several hundred feet without losing connection.

"It seems stable," Helga said. "It's a pity that we can't use necrotic energy to test-" she continued, only to be cut when I suddenly pressed my hand on her lips.

Her annoyed expression left its place to panic when I spoke. "The spell detected something," I said, quite surprised myself, not to mention feeling panicked.

"Are you sure?" Aviada said as her grip tightened around her sword.

"Not a hundred percent," I answered. "It's still a new spell, and there's no guarantee that it's working correctly. Before last night, I would've written it off as paranoia, but if they are strong enough to actually penetrate the school, we can't afford to write it off as a coincidence."

"We're not going to ignore this, are we?" Aviada asked, looking ready to push forward already.

"Can we take the risk?" Helga asked. "The last time we almost died, and they underestimated us."

I understood Helga's point. We had just got rid of a sizable force, and if they were being led by a half-decent commander, they would be on alert. "I really don't want to, but we can't afford to ignore it. The situation is worse than I first thought, and getting rid of that shade and yesterday's team might have galvanized them into early action. I need to check to make sure."

"You meant we, right?" Aviada said, her tone sharp.

"Unfortunately, no," I said even as I passed her sword back to Aviada. "I would move faster if I'm alone." She looked like she was about to complain, but I waved my hand. "No, we can't afford to fight. We're going to retreat first and you're going back to the school. I don't want you to be out in case they get suspicious. They are already in the school, so they can check the records to see who was outside when they lost the battle."

Both Aviada and Helga looked dissatisfied, but they were sensible enough to understand the reasoning. "Keep the sword at least," Aviada said, trying to pass the sword to me once more.

"No, that's too recognizable. They already have spies in the school, I don't want them targeting you," I said decisively, which put a small blush on Aviada's face. "Moreover, this time, I'm not planning to fight but scout the opposition, so it won't be necessary."

I looked at my surroundings as I escorted the girls outside the canyon, not wanting to keep them near the event. I was confident in my abilities, and even if I was detected, I could trigger a landslide to escape. The natural limits and concealment that made the place a pain in the ass when fighting against the monsters were a bonus if I suddenly found myself against another undead horde. However, if I was forced to that point, trying to protect the girls while trying to run would have been too much even for me.

Soon, we arrived at the protection of the wards once again. "Do you want us to stay close, just in case," asked Helga with a worried expression.

"Thanks for the offer, but I want you two to be visibly away from here," I explained as I put my arm on her waist. "But I appreciate the offer," I added, pulling her close for a kiss, and Helga responded enthusiastically, her body smashing against mine. It would be a lie if I said I wasn't tempted for another quickie, especially since Aviada was watching us with hungry eyes, no doubt willing to join the moment we started. Unfortunately, I had a bad feeling about the undead presence, and didn't want to delay anymore.

So, reluctantly, I pulled away from Helga, and after a goodbye kiss from Aviada -no less passionate- I was walking toward the canyon once more. It was not a good sign to come across undead wherever I walked. There was clearly a bigger plan, dangerous enough to target the school itself.

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Though, as much as I wanted to protect the library because of my emotional entanglement, I was also aware I could be revealed. Earning some goodwill beforehand just in case would help immensely.

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As I moved deeper into the canyon, I turned my attention back to more immediate concerns. As I moved, an oppressive feeling of death and decay filled the air, so much that I had to cast a warding spell to protect myself from the uncomfortable sensation while simultaneously hiding my presence.

[-12 Mana]

[+1 Biomancy]

Sensing that I was close to the center, I didn't dare to cast my detection spell, afraid that necromancers would detect its presence. Hence the reason I was almost caught when a black robed figure suddenly appeared around the corner, forcing me to duck behind a large rock, glad that their presence had driven the monsters away.

I watched with a frown as the necromancer picked a central location and started drawing a large hermetic circle. Both the design and the runes themselves were unfamiliar, but the energy that was spreading from it was even more disgusting than the necrotic energy. Thankfully, it was rather muted, possibly because it wasn't activated yet.

The necromancer left the area after it was completed. I cast a detection spell to make sure I was alone in the area before walking closer to the array, trying to examine it through my arcana abilities. But the moment my mana touched one of the runes, it awakened, and it started invading my spell. I forcefully terminated the spell, and expelled a large amount of mana to make sure corruption didn't invade my body.

[-245 Mana]

Of course, such a flare of magic had doubtlessly alerted the necromancers to my presence, so I dashed toward the canyon walls once more, this time climbing upward several feet before creating a cave on the surface, one that closed behind me the moment I stepped in, only a small crack remaining.

I watched as three robed figures dashed towards the opening, their hands already glowing with the sickly gray of their death magic. "What was that surge?" asked one of them as he looked around carefully. He was the one that built the circle. "Are we under attack?"

I felt annoyed. I put myself into a deadly danger because of a moment's carelessness, and I had no illusions about my hiding place. Thankfully, my luck held up, and one of the others spoke after looking around cursorily."Don't worry, the leftovers are obviously corrupted. Lictus screwed up, again," he said, his derision was clear.

"Say that again!" the first one bellowed, clearly unhappy about the insult.

With that, two necromancers argued for a while until the third on cut in. "Enough," he called angrily. "Stop acting like children. We still have several nodes to create."

"But-" one of them said until the leader cut him off once again.

"Enough," he said, and continued when the other seemed ready to cut it off. "If you want to explain to the boss why the trap is not ready, go ahead, keep arguing. I'm sure he will be understanding."

Referring to their mysterious boss solved the situation quickly. They stopped bickering and started examining the runic node with a rapid discussion between them. When they determined the array was working as it was supposed to, they disappeared in different directions, too busy to ask why a perfectly working array had resulted in a surge.

Before leaving my hiding spot, I needed to decide what to do. The array was clearly dangerous, so much so that if I hadn't already positioned myself as an enemy of them, I might have chosen to leave. If my situation was ever revealed, it wouldn't have taken a genius to match my presence with their recent setbacks. Since I had already declared war, weakening them further was an obvious choice.

Once again I walked to the magical node, examining it carefully. I had learned from my mistakes, so instead of pushing my magic into the array, I examined it passively. With my limited time, I wasn't able to discover a lot about the array, but I managed to discover how to track its connection to other nodes.

It left me with another challenge, namely, how to take action. Destroying it outright was not an option because it would have alerted the necromancers. Deciphering it might have been a viable choice if I had enough time and access to the library, but I didn't know when it would be triggered, so that was not a viable option as well.

In the end, I decided to learn from the example, and created a small explosive array linked to the control one. The explosive array was a small but ingenious combination of arcana and earth elemental effects. Arcana to maintain the connection and trigger, earth elemental to destroy the foundation of the node, therefore harming the array.

There was one problem, I didn't know whether destroying one node would be enough to hamper its effects.

Since the necromancers were working hard on its construction, it would be foolish for me to assume that the loss of one node would destroy the integrity of the whole array. Luckily, I was able to discover the connection between the arrays, so finding the others wouldn't have been difficult.

Decision made, I started following the ephemeral lines of connection between the nodes, occasionally avoiding patrols while I planted my explosive traps near each node, each concealed under the nodes' intimidating corrupting glow.

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I managed to trap almost twenty nodes when the necromancers suddenly dashed toward the center of the array. I followed them instead of doing the smart thing, as I couldn't help but feel curious about the aim of this huge array, trusting my abilities to keep me hidden in the canyon. As I moved, I trapped several more nodes, much easier now that the patrols were pulling to the central location.

When I arrived at the center of the array, I was suddenly glad that I decided to stay, because even seeing the complicated patterns of the central array gave me a better understanding of wardmaking. It was truly a masterpiece. Too bad that it was developed by the necromancers and I had to destroy it.

Then, just before I could activate the array, I felt its presence disappearing, which reinforced my expectation that it was a trap. The question was, for whom?

The answer I received a minute later, when two figures dashed into the canyon, one unfamiliar figure wrapped in several arcana glows as it escaped, carrying a book in hand as he dashed away. But my attention was grabbed by the figure that was following it. It was the head librarian, covered in lightning, her anger visible even from a great distance as she pursued.

Shocked by her appearance, I forgot to trigger my explosives until I felt the array stirring, its softness belying the dangerous threat it presented.

I didn't know if it aimed to kill the head librarian, or something worse, but either way, I knew that I couldn't have allowed it. "Librarian! Be careful!" I shouted even as I activated my explosives, hoping that it would be enough…

—

[Level: 17 Experience: 146150 / 153000

Strength: 18 Charisma: 25

Precision: 13 Perception: 14

Agility: 17 Manipulation: 20

Speed: 13 Intelligence: 17

Endurance: 14 Wisdom: 21

HP: 1275 / 1275 Mana: 1621 / 1649 ]

SKILLS

[Master Melee [100/100]

Expert Arcana [75/75]

Expert Elemental [75/75]

Expert Biomancy [64/75]

Advanced Subterfuge [50/50]

Basic Speech [25/25] ]

PERKS

Mana Regeneration

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